1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to two-cycle engines and particularly to a clean operating efficient two-stroke engine comprising a precision cast engine in two separable parts for easy repair, a drive piston unit or units to provide the thrust and a driven rotor unit to translate linear thrust from the piston unit or units into rotary power transmitted to a transportation device or other devices, wherein the piston unit has one or more cylinders with each piston rod attached to a thrust absorber carriage running on precision bearings so that the piston does not touch the cylinder walls to eliminate piston drag for a full leveraged power stroke and the thrust absorber carriage has one or more drive rods extending into one or more driven units with cylindrical rotor drives having curved grooves in the outer surface for each to receive a drive rod in the groove to cause the rotor to rotate to transmit power via a single or double drive shaft connected to drive components of a transportation vehicle or other use so that the present invention provides a two stroke engine using full pressure lubrication through conduits to the moving parts so there is no oil in the fuel, an air intake valve on each piston for automatic self aspirating to force combusted gasses out and draw in a controlled recharge of air for the fuel air mix using controlled air valve and exhaust valve action and low pressure fuel injection, wherein the pistons run in parallel relation to the power shaft with no gears except the lubrication pump and very low power loss to operate the engine with the ability to drop or pickup cylinder operation at will (idle on one cylinder and engage others as needed).
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98
It is known that no internal combustion engine as built today can meet the weight to horsepower ratio of the two-stroke engine. To overcome the negative aspects of the old two-stroke design and produce an engine more friendly to the ecology seems more practical than to continue with the four-stroke variety. The advantage of a two-stroke engine is the less weight to horsepower, lower manufacturing cost (not as many parts) lower updating cost (no dead strokes to use up power) smaller size where size a problem, longer engine life, less air pollution, and a reduced drain on our oil reserves.
Typical two-stroke engines have no oil sump to lubricate the internal components of the engine. Therefore, oil is either mixed with the fuel prior to being drawn into the engine, or is injected directly into the crankcase area to provide the necessary lubrication. Both methods serve, to keep the weight of such engines low and make it possible to utilize two cycle engines in any position, but contribute substantial pollution to the environment and require frequent maintenance due to carbon build-up.
Older two stroke engines which were known to be the most efficient engines to build and operate with the highest horse power to weight ratio of any internal combustion engine ever built. Their problem was exhaust and intake porting, requiring the lubricant to be mixed with the fuel, which required a high head temperature to reduce the carbon deposits due to the oil-gas mixture and of course it was considered to be a dirty engine and was barred for use in the marine market.
Prior art two-stroke engines fail to adequately address the major problems typically associated with such engines.
Prior art U.S. Patent Application #20040099228, published May 27, 2004 by Roberts, shows a two stroke cycle internal combustion engine machine that does not require lubricating oil to be mixed with its fuel, producing greater efficiency, higher power to weight ratio, cooler operating temperatures, a wider speed range, greater simplicity, and lower toxic emissions, many of the improvements also transferable to four stroke engines.
Prior art U.S. Pat. No. 4,480,599, issued Nov. 6, 1984 to Allais, describes a free-piston engine formed by one or more units, each comprising a pair of opposed pistons connected to a common piston rod and movable within two opposed cylinders, with a load, such as the inductor of a linear alternator, connected to an intermediate point of the piston rod, and in which there is provided at least a cam controlled by an operatively independent motor and engaging at least a tappet connected to the piston rod of a unit of pistons. The tappet may alternately be a roller. The cam is profiled and controlled in such a way as to substantially follow the movement of the tappets which is produced by the free-piston engine during normal operation, but to limit the travel of the piston units and provide the energy for the compression stroke, in case of anomalous operation. The cam serves also to start the engine, as well as to mutually synchronize the various units of pairs of pistons in engines having a plurality of units. The engine may also be in the form of an adiabatic engine fed by coal dust or other solid fuel.
Prior art U.S. Pat. No. 5,002,020, issued Mar. 26, 1991 to Kos, indicates a computer optimized hybrid engine employing a reciprocating piston in conjunction with an electromagnetic transducer for control and power output. The transducer is essentially a specialized linear motor/generator. The piston is rigidly connected by means of a rod to a permanent magnet (or equivalent). The piston-rod-magnet unit is constrained by bearings to move translationally along one axis. The magnet can move linearly into and out of the yoke of the magnetic transducer to generate an electric current in the windings of the yoke. At the same time computer control of the effective impendences of these windings as well as computer controlled currents (provided by an electric storage battery or electrical energy storage indicator) flowing through some (or all) of these windings control the motion of the magnet and hence of the piston. Computer control is also exercised over other devices to regulate ignition timing, fuel injection, air intake, valve motion, etc. The power output may be used to drive A.C., D.C. or A.C./D.C. motors or it may be wholly or partially rectified to charge batteries and/or power A.C./D.C. or D.C. motors or to power other devices.
Prior art U.S. Pat. No. 6,532,916, issued Mar. 18, 2003 to Kerrebrock, is for an opposed piston linearly oscillating power unit. The piston/cylinder internal combustion unit has opposed pistons connected to a common rod and driven in an oscillatory and reciprocating movement. The pistons operate out of phase with each other, such that the power stroke of one drives the compression stroke of the other, and a spring acts on the rod storing energy or exerting a restorative force as the rod is displaced with piston movement. Preferably, the moving rod carries a coil assembly near a stationary magnet (or a magnet near a stationary coil assembly) to produce electricity at the oscillatory frequency. The engine may employ a mechanical spring, an electromagnetic or a magnetic spring, or combinations thereof to stabilize or establish oscillation of the piston and rod assembly. The coil itself may fill this function and act to exert restoring force by coupling to an external control system that applies a control a signal to the coil in accordance with piston position to create an electromagnetic restoring force of appropriate level. The piston rod may couple to a first coil that acts as a spring, and a second coil that functions as an alternator to generate power. By driving the pistons in opposite phase, or by providing a magnetic/electromagnetic spring mechanism, a higher constant k is achieved, raising the frequency of oscillation and increasing power output of the engine.
Prior art U.S. Pat. No. 4,128,083, issued Dec. 5, 1978 to Bock, provides a gas cushioned free piston type engine which comprises two oppositely arranged combustion cylinders and a pair of pistons reciprocably mounted therein, which are rigidly connected to each other by a common piston rod. The engine includes further a pump cylinder provided in a central part of the engine located between the two combustion cylinders, a pump piston having opposite faces impingeable by fluid, fixed to the piston rod and dividing the pump cylinder into a pair of pump cylinder chambers, a common suction chamber and a common pressure chamber, which, together with inlet valves and outlet valves, are arranged in the central part of the engine.
Prior art U.S. Pat. No. 3,089,305, issued May 14, 1963 to Hobbs, shows an internal combustion engine with opposed engine cylinders mounted on the body, opposed reciprocating engine pistons in the engine cylinders, a piston rod fastened to the engine pistons to be reciprocated therewith, and a pump output unit, comprising a pump cylinder and a pump piston which is fixed to the piston rod. The piston rod is supported by the engine casing.
Prior art U.S. Pat. No. 2,825,319, issued Mar. 4, 1958 to Harrer, claims a free-piston engine-compressor apparatus which comprises a central part of the engine with two combustion cylinders arranged to opposite sides of the central part and fixedly connected thereto. The free pistons are reciprocably arranged in the two combustion cylinders and are rigidly connected to each other by a common piston rod. There are no rod support projections from the housing, therefore the pistons suffer more wear.
Prior art U.S. Pat. No. 4,932,373, issued Jun. 12, 1990 to Carson, discloses a motion converting mechanism. To reduce space requirements, vibrations and certain stresses in a motion converting mechanism, a rod is constrained to reciprocate within a housing where the rod is attached to the crankshaft by a cylindrical shaped connector that orbits around the crankpin in a direction opposite that of the crankshaft while rotating inside the rod. Through the center portion of each stroke, the connector also interfaces directly with the housing by such means as a cam cam-follower or gearing to eliminate a second degree of freedom at midstroke. The resulting motion defined for the center of the connector and the rod is sinusoidal being twice that of the motion of the crankpin in the axis of reciprocation. The resulting stroke is four times the crankpin offset. The motion converting mechanism has a double acting piston which includes piston/oil rings on both ends of piston. Piston/oil rings are also mounted in head. The head may include a raised projection in the direction of piston immediate to piston coupling rod with piston having a corresponding recess. The raised projection would extend out sufficiently from the head to the protect piston coupling rod from heat build up during the high temperatures encountered at the beginning of the combustion stroke.
Prior art U.S. Pat. No. 6,834,636, issued Dec. 28, 2004 to Thomas et al., is for an internal combustion barrel engine including an engine housing with a first and second end. An elongated power shaft is longitudinally disposed in the engine housing and defines a longitudinal axis. A combustion cylinder and a guide cylinder are spaced apart and disposed on a common cylinder axis that is generally parallel to the central axis. The cylinders each have an inner end and an outer end, with the inner ends being closer to each other. The outer end of the combustion cylinder is closed. An intake system is operable to introduce a mixture of air and/or fuel into the combustion cylinder. A track is supported between the inner ends of the cylinders and has an undulating cam surface. The track is moveable such that the portion of the cam surface most directly between the cylinders undulates toward and away from the inner end of the combustion cylinder. A double-ended piston includes a combustion end disposed in the combustion cylinder so as to define a combustion chamber between the combustion end and the closed end of the combustion cylinder. A guide end is disposed in the guide cylinder. A midportion extends between the combustion end and the guide end and is in mechanical communication with the guide surface of the track. A variable compression ratio device is operable to move the track axially towards and away from the inner end of the combustion cylinder so as to adjust the compression ratio. Combustion occurs only in the combustion cylinder and does not occur in the guide cylinder.
Prior art U.S. Pat. No. 6,541,875, issued Apr. 1, 2003 to Berlinger, puts forth a free piston internal combustion engine with electrical power output, particularly suitable for use in a vehicle having an electric motor as a prime mover, has a combustion cylinder, a piston reciprocally disposed within the cylinder, and a piston rod coupled with a piston. An annular bearing carried within the housing guides the piston rod within generator/motor cylinder. A linear electric generator/motor includes at least one magnet carried by the piston rod and at least one coil positioned in association with the at least one magnet. An electrical circuit is coupled with each of the at least one coil and a battery. The at least one magnet induces an electrical current within the coil to energize a capacitor within the electrical circuit. The charge from the capacitor may be used to charge the battery. The capacitor and/or battery provide output electrical current which is used to drive the electric motor.
What is needed is an improvement of the old two-stroke engine which is pressure lubricated requiring no oil in the fuel, and consequently does not need a high temperature cylinder head to burn the excess carbon created by the oil in the fuel as found in prior two-stroke engine, and for greater efficiency and cleaner burning, has one air intake and two exhaust valves per cylinder, is fuel injected, and has most of the moving parts operating on roller bearings or lubricated slides.